Eco-briefs

The conservation easement-focused nonprofit Mountain Area Land Trust has announced plans to expand into the mountains surrounding Boulder County.

“Mountain Trust, which is a nonprofit, has adopted this new encompass of land after they heard from several other land trusts and people in the land conservation community that this area was underserved,” Matt Ashley from Mountain Trust said in anemail. “Also, there are exciting land conservation opportunities with places such as churches, camps and wildfire refuges since the Colorado Department of nonprofits eli- Revenue made gible to receive tax credits for placing a conservation easement on properties earlier this year.”

Mountain Trust creates conservation easements and completes public projects with a goal of preserving natural areas, vistas, water resources, ranches and animal sanctuaries for future generations.

UTAH STATE PARK TO ENCOMPASS NEW TERRITORIES

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is looking at transferring 136,000 acres of federal land in Utah’s San Rafael Swell to Goblin Valley State Park in an effort to better meet the demands of a high volume of tourists.

“There’s incredible diversity, beautiful canyons, hiking, motorcycle and four wheel trails and amazing back country — the area has been proposed as a national monument,” says Nathan Martinez, assistant park manager of Goblin Valley.

According to the Emery County Progress, the Goblin Valley newspaper, future Goblin Valley employees in the new extension would be better able to facilitate visitor relations and supervision than the Bureau of Land Management, which is currently too far away to provide timely assistance to the park when needed. Expanding would also allow the state park to charge a higher entrance fee, which would increase funding for signage and maintenance.

The move to expand gained momentum when the Emery County Commission said they would support the idea.

“From our perspective, we are looking forward to working with the county and state to promote extra tourism and recreation in the area,” says Megan Crandell, a Bureau of Land Management representative. But, she adds, “There’s no official proposal yet.”